Pressure regulator

ABSTRACT

The specification discloses a pressure regulating valve device for regulating to a relatively low uniform delivery pressure a high-pressure supply of fluid, such as a gas. The valve device includes a release valve arrangement which effects the release of high-pressure fluid that is undesirably trapped in the valve device due to leakage past a seal, such as O-ring seals, associated with a valve stem. The release valve arrangement operates responsively to shut-off of the supply of pressure to vent the trapped fluid via the normal delivery passages of the valve device.

United States Patent 1 Kongelka 1 Sept. 18, 1973 PRESSURE REGULATOR [75]Inventor: Robert M. Kongelka, Washington,

[73] Assignee: Superior Valve Company,

Washington, Pa.

221 Filed: June 7, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 260,546

[52] 11.8. CI 137/6l2.l, 137/505.18, l37/505.42

[51] Int. Cl Fl6k 17/04 [58] Field of Search 137/505.l8, 505.42,137/612.1

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,075,545 1/1963 Eichelma'n137/505.18

3,139,901 7/1964 Camp l37/505 l8 3,586,037 6/1971 Zimmer l37/505.l8

3,621,867 11/1971 Johnson l37/505.18

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 994,408 8/1951 France l37/505.42

Primary ExaminerHarold W. Weakley Attorney-Buell, Blenko et al.

[57] ABSTRACT The specification discloses a pressure regulating valvedevice for regulating to a relatively low uniform delivery pressure ahigh-pressure supply of fluid, such as a gas. The valve device includesa release valve arrangement which effects the release of high-pressurefluid that is undesirably trapped in the valve device due to leakagepast a seal, such as O-ring seals, associated with a valve stem. Therelease valve arrangement operates responsively to shut-off of thesupply of pressure to vent the trapped fluid via the normal deliverypassages of the valve device.

3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PRESSURE REGULATOR This invention relates topressure regulating valve devices, particularly of the type in which thevalve device regulates to a relatively low delivery pressure a fluid,such as a gas, the supply pressure of which is relatively high. Valvesof this type are commonly used, for example, in regulating the pressureof oxygen delivered from highly pressurized tanks to respiratoryequipment in hospitals and to welding equipment.

Gas pressure regulating valves of the type for delivering gas atrelatively low pressures, such as in the -20 p.s.i. range from arelatively high supply pressure in the range of 2,0003,000 p.s.i. havebeen known and used for many years. A common difficulty to which thesevalves are subject is leakage of the highly pressurized gas along valvestems past O-ring seals. Unless some provision is made for preventingsuch leakage or nullifying the effect of the leakage, the build-up ofhigh pressure gas leakage in trapped volumes within the valve device canintroduce an unintended pressure bias into the regulator and produceundesirable closing-off or distortion of the delivery pressure control.In order to nullify the effect of leakage, some pressure regulatingvalves resort to the use of a constantly open atmospheric vent port forreleasing gas leakage directly to atmosphere. US. Pat. No. 3,286,726,issued NOv. 22, 1966 to B. L. Guy discloses a valve device which istypical of pressure regulating valves employing such an atmosphericrelease port.

ln the case of inflammatory or explosive gases, however, the possibleaccumulation of released gas in a confined area becomes a safety hazard.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a pressureregulating valve device of improved design which avoids thedisadvantages and objections characteristic of heretofore known pressureregulating valve devices and which, in particular, avoids the release ofhighly-pressurized gas leakage directly to atmosphere.

More particularly, I provide a pressure regulating valve deviceembodying therein an arrangement for releasing highly-pressurized gasleakage from the regulating valve device through the normal deliverychannels and which therefore avoids entirely the need for atmosphericvent ports, thereby obviating any possibility of safety hazard or entryof dirt into the valve itself.

A presently preferred form of pressure regulating valve device embodyingmy invention will be described hereinafter in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational cross-sectional view of the pressure regulatingvalve device; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmental enlarged cross-sectional view, showing withgreater clarity the salient details of the regulating valve device ofFIG. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the general structure of the regulating valvedevice 10 embodying my invention comprises a sectionalized casing ofsuitable metal, such as brass, having a valve section 11 and a springsection 12, the two sections having cooperating threads by which thesections are secured together.

Valve section 11 is of cylindrical or cup shape, having a circularrecess or low-pressure chamber 13 on the inner end thereof and a coaxialpartly threaded bore 14 extending out of the chamber toward the bottomof the section 11.

A threaded inlet port 15 and a threaded outlet port 16 are provided inthe valve section. The inlet port 15 opens into the bore 14 through anorifice 17. Outlet port 16 is connected via a short connectable 18 withthe chamber 13. Pipes (not shown) are connectible to the inlet andoutlet ports for conducting the highpressure fluid to the valve device10 and delivering it therefrom. While the inlet and outlet ports 15 and16 are shown as being in coaxial diametric relation, it will be apparentthat they may have any desired coplanar angle therebetween. Also, whileomitted for simplicity, additional ports may be provided conventionallyin the body of the valve section 11, communicating respectively with theinlet port 15 and with the chamber 13, for a desired purpose, such asconnection of pressure or safety gauges thereto.

Mounted within the casing section 11 is a nozzle 19 comprising athreaded cylindrical portion which is screwed into the threaded portionof bore 14 and which has an integral hexagonal nut portion at one end.As will be noted especially in FIG. 2, the cylindrical portion is formedto a smooth surface adjacent the hexagonal nut portion, which surfacelies in concentric spaced relation to the smooth outer portion of thebore 14. An O-ring or grommet 20 of rubber composition is disposedbetween the cylindrical portion and the smooth wall of the bore 14 insealing relation.

The cylindrical portion of nozzle 19 has a cylindrical recess or bore 21coaxial thereto, which communicates with chamber 13 via a second coaxialbore 22 of relatively smaller diameter, that is open to the outer end ofthe hexagonal nut portion. Formed at the bottom of re cess 21 insurrounding relation to the bore 22 in an annular seat or seat ring 23for a valve element 24, more fully described later. Opening laterallyout of the bore 22 are a plurality, illustratively shown as two, of ventports 25 which open upwardly into the chamber 13.

The valve element 24 comprises a polygonal valve head 26 and anintegrally formed coaxial stem 27 having an intermediate cylindricalportion 28 and a distal end portion 29 also cylindrical but smaller indiameter than the portion 28.

Formed in the face of the valve 26 is an annular groove 30 in which isfixed an annular member 31 of rubber composition. The outer surface ofmember 31 is smooth and flush with the outer face of the valve head26and is adapted to seat on the flat outer end face of annular seat 23.

Pressed or otherwise fixed in a circular hole 32 drilled coaxially inthe face of the valve head 26 is a plunger pin 33, the outer end of thepin being somewhat larger in diameter and having a sliding fit with thebore 22 in the valve head 26. The length of the pin 33 is such as toproject slightly above the conical outer face of the hexagonal nutportion of nozzle 19 while the valve element 24 is seated on the seatring 23.

Disposed coaxially in loose guided relation to the smooth bottomside-wall portion of bore 14 is an annular element hereinafter calledretainer or springretainer 34. Retainer 34 has a coaxial sleeve portion35 projecting to one side thereof and surrounded at its base end by aconical recess 36. Projecting coaxially a seal with the bottom surfaceof bore 14. The diameter of grommet 39 is such that even when compressedin sealing relation to the bottom surface of bore 14, it does notcontact or seal against the side wall of bore 14.

A helical spring 40 is disposed in coaxial surrounding relation to stem27 and sleeve 35 in interposed compressed relation between the retainer34 and valve head 26. One end of spring 40 seats within the conicalrecess 36 of retainer 34 and the other end seats on the annular face ofthe valve head 26 surrounding stem 27. Spring 40 acts to bias valveelement 24 into seated relation on the seat ring 23 unless a strongeropposing force is exerted via the pin 33 in the manner hereinafterdescribed.

The intermediate portion 28 of the stem 27 has a sliding fit with theinterior surface of sleeve 35 of retainer 34 and the end portion 29 ofstem 27 extends slidably through a central bore or hole 41 in theretainer 34. An additional circular recess 42 is provided in the bottomof bore 14 to insure clearance between the casing sec tion 11 and theend portion 29 of the stem 27 at all times. An ()-ring or grommet 43 ofrubber composition is interposed between the end portion 29 of stem 27and the interior surface of sleeve 35 to provide a seal against leakageof high pressure fluid along stem 27 to the chamber formed between theretainer 34 and the bottom of bore 14, and to recess 42.

As will be seen in FIG. 1, the chamber 13 in the casing section 11 isclosed by a flexible diaphragm 45, shown as of rubber composition. Theperiphery of the diaphragm is clamped between the end of the casingsection 11 and a shoulder 46 formed inside the hollow spring casingsection 12, when the two casing sections are tightly screwed together.

At the upper side of the diaphragm 45 is a rigid metallic follower plateor disc 47, the diaphragm and follower disc being secured together atthe center thereof by a screw 48 which extends through registering holes49 and 50 in the diaphragm and follower disc respectively. Screw 48 hasan integral head 51 of polygonal shape for holding the screw, as with awrench, while tightening a nut 52 thereon on the opposite side of thefollower disc 47. Head 51 has a circular rib 53 on the inside surfacethereof which, when nut 52 is tightened, forms a tight seal with thediaphragm 45 against leakage of fluid from chamber 13.

Contained within the chamber 54 formed within the hollow casing section12 is a helical spring 55. Spring 55 is arranged coaxially within thecasing section 12 so that one end seats on the follower disc 47 insurrounding relation to the nut 52 and the other end seats on one faceof a disc-shaped spring seat 56. Spring seat 56 has a conical recess 57in its opposite face for engagement by the rounded end of a screw 58which has threaded engagement with a shouldered collar insert 59retained in the upper end of the casing section 12. Screw 58 isprovided, exteriorly of casing section 12, with a crossrod 60, whichserves as a handle whereby the screw may be turned in or out to adjustthe amount of compression of spring 55.

Chamber 54 of casing section 12 is constantly open to atmosphere througha vent port 61 to avoid any dash-pot action of the diaphragm 47.

in operation, let it first be assumed that the screw 58 of valve devicehas been turned in to a desired position, in which the spring 55 iscompressed and exerts a force via the diaphragm follower 47 and head 51of screw 48 upon the upper end of the plunger pin 33, to thereby unseatthe valve element 24 from valve seat 23 against the force of spring 40.Let it also be assumed that a suitable valve (not shown) is operated tocause the supply of high-pressure fluid, such as gas, to the inlet port15 of valve device 10. It will be apparent that with valve element 24unseated the high pressure gas flows from inlet port 15 via orifice 17,bore 14, bore 21 in nozzle 19, through clearance spaces between the flatside surfaces on the polygonal valve head 26 and bore 21, thence pastseat ring 23 and via bore 22 and ports 25 in nozzle 19 into chamber 13.From chamber 13, the gas flows via passage 18 to the outlet port 16 andthence via a pipe or conduit (not shown) to the place at which the gasis to be utilized.

If the flow of gas from port 16 is cut off or reduced, pressure willincrease in chamber 13 exerting an upward force against spring 55. Thepressure of the gas in chamber 13 will continue to build up until suchtime as the upward pressure of the gas on the diaphragm 46 overcomes theforce of spring 55. When this occurs, spring 40 causes the valve element24 to be reseated on the seat ring 23, thus cutting off further flow ofpressurized gas to chamber 13. It will be seen from the drawings that asubstantially similar area on each side of valve element 24 is exposedto high pressure. Accordingly, the regulation is substantiallyindependent of the pressure from which the gas is being reduced. it willbe understood, that with the desired adjustment of screw 58, thepressure of the gas delivered by the valve device 10 may be in arelatively low range such as 15 to 20 p.s.i., while the pressurizedfluid supplied to inlet port 15 of the regulating valve device may be ina relatively high range, such as 2,000 to 3,000 p.s.i.

If low pressure gas is required, there will be a drop in pressure inchamber 13, reducing the upward force on diaphragm 45 and allowingspring 55 to exert a greater downward force on pin 33. That will causevalve element 24 to move and allow gas again to flow into chamber 13until the pressure is increased and valve element 24 again moves to aclosed position. By such periodic opening and closing, the regulatedpressure is closely maintained.

Let it now be further assumed that with the valve device 10 functioningto regulate the supply of gas, as be fore described, leakage ofhigh-pressure gas occurs past either one or both of O-rings 43 and 39.Such leakage of gas accumulates in the chamber underneath retainer 34and in recess 42 and eventually builds up sufficiently in pressure thatthe force exerted upwardly on end portion 29 of stem 27 urges the valveelement 24 toward seated relation on seat ring 23, thus impedingoperation thereof to regulate the delivery pressure in chamber 13. Insuch case, however, the trapped gas under pressure may be readilyreleased past the valve element 24 and out through delivery port 16,simply by shutting off the supply of high-pressure gas to the inlet port15. With the cut-off of pressurized gas effective in bore 14, thedifferential fluid pressure force on retainer 34 exerted by the trappedgas under pressure causes the retainer 34 to move upwardly against theforce of spring 40 until such time as the retainer relieves the O-ring39 of compression force and the O-ring 39 is restored to its normalround cross-section. Thus the seal of the O-ring 39 on the floor of thebore 14 is broken and the gas under pressure trapped beneath theretainer 34 promptly flows past the retainer into the inlet chamberportion of bore 14, since the O-ring 39 does not contact the bottom areaof the side wall of bore 14. With release of gas under pressure from thechamber beneath the retainer 34, the spring 40 acts to restore theretainer again to its original position in which the O-ring 39 is seatedon the bottom or floor of the bore 14 in sealed relation.

If the force exerted on pin 33 by spring 55 is such as to unseat thevalve element 24 at this time, it will be seen that the pressurized gasreleased from the chamber beneath the retainer 34 will flow past thevalve element and through bore 22 into chamber 13 and out via passage 18and outlet port 16. Should the valve element 24 remain seated on seatring 23 at the time the trapped gas under pressure is released frombeneath the retainer 34, the restoration of full supply pressure to theinlet port will cause the valve element 24 to be unseated incidental toits pressure regulating function and thereby effect flow of the releasedgas under pressure into chamber 13 and out through the delivery port 16.

It will accordingly be seen that the regulating valve device which Ihave provided functions to release leakage gas under pressure via normaldelivery channels through the valve device. Thus the necessity for aleakage port to atmosphere is obviated with the consequent advantagethat accumulation of dirt in the leakage port is avoided and possiblehazard in the case of an explosive or toxic gas is avoided.

Moreover, since the retainer 34 and O-ring 39 fit the bore 14 loosely,the retainer can shift position slightly to eliminate binding that couldresult if valve element 24 and its stem 27 were rigidly guided at bothends and some non-concentric machining of parts existed. Also, the loosefit of retainer 34 in the bore 14 insures perfect seating of valveelement 24 on its seat 23, and allows a closer tolerance in the fitbetween stem end portion 29 and its guiding bore 41 in the retainer 34.The possibility of extrusion failure of O-ring 43 under high pressureconditions is thus lessened.

I claim:

1. In a pressure regulating valve device having a casing embodying aninlet chamber and an outlet chamber, a nozzle member fixed in saidcasing and providing fluid communication from the said inlet chamber tosaid outlet chamber, a valve member disposed within the inlet chamberand cooperating with a seat on said nozzle member to open and close saidfluid communication, and fluid pressure responsive means subject to theopposing forces of a spring means and the fluid pressure in said outletchamber for controlling the position of said valve member with respectto the seat on said nozzle member, wherein the improvement comprises anannular retainer member guidably disposed in a portion of said inletchamber and having a sleeve portion for guiding said valve member, anO-ring on said retainer member providing a seal with the floor of saidinlet chamber, spring means interposed between said valve member andsaid retainer member and yieldable to permit movement of said retainermember toward said valve member to break the seal of the said O-ringwith the floor of said inlet chamber and permit release flow past saidretainer of fluid pressure trapped by said retainer.

2. In a pressure regulating valve device according to claim 1, whereinsaid valve member has a stem disposed coaxially and in telescopicrelation with respect to the sleeve portion of said retainer member andwherein a second O-ring is interposed in sealing relation between aportion of the stem of said valve member and the sleeve portion of saidretainer member.

3. In a pressure regulating valve device according to claim 2, whereinsaid retainer member is subject opposingly to the fluid pressure in saidinlet chamber and the accumulated fluid pressure leaking past saidsecond 0- ring along the stem of the valve member, and wherein saidretainer is shifted toward said valve member to release accumulatedfluid pressure leaking past said second O-ring by the fluid pressuredifferential acting thereon in consequence of reduction of the supplyfluid pressure in said inlet chamber.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3 759294 Dated Sgptember l8 1973 It is certified that error appears in theabove-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are herebycorrected as shown below:

Column 1, line '27, "NOV." should read -Nov.-.

Column 2, line 4, "connectable" should read -passage-.

Column 2, line 5, "connectible" should read --connectable--.

Column 2, line 33, "in" should read -is-- -l(second occurrence) Column2, line 43, after "valve" insert head- Signed and sealed this 5th day ofMarch 1974 (SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCH ER,JR. C. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Off cer Commissionerof Patents FORM PC3-1050 (10-69) USCOMM DC 376 p69 b LLS. GOVERNMENTPRINTING OFFICE l9! 0-366-33l.

1. In a pressure regulating valve device having a casing embodying aninlet chamber and an outlet chamber, a nozzle member fixed in saidcasing and providing fluid communication from the said inlet chamber tosaid outlet chamber, a valve member disposed within the inlet chamberand cooperating with a seat on said nozzle member to open and close saidfluid communication, and fluid pressure responsive means subject to theopposing forces of a spring means and the fluid pressure in said outletchamber for controlling the position of said valve member with respectto the seat on said nozzle member, wherein the improvement comprises anannular retainer member guidably disposed in a portion of said inletchamber and having a sleeve portion for guiding said valve member, anO-ring on said retainer member providing a seal with the floor of saidinlet chamber, spring means interposed between said valve member andsaid retainer member and yieldable to permit movement of said retainermember toward said valve member to break the seal of the said Oring withthe floor of said inlet chamber and permit release flow past saidretainer of fluid pressure trapped by said retainer.
 2. In a pressureregulating valve device according to claim 1, wherein said valve memberhas a stem disposed coaxially and in telescopic relation with respect tothe sleeve portion of said retainer member and wherein a second O-ringis interposed in sealing relation between a portion of the stem of saidvalve member and the sleeve portion of said retainer member.
 3. In apressure regulating valve device according to claim 2, wherein saidretainer member is subject opposingly to the fluid pressure in saidinlet chamber and the accumulated fluid pressure leaking past saidsecond O-ring along the stem of the valve member, and wherein saidretainer is shifted toward said valve member to release accumulatedfluid pressure leaking past said second O-ring by the fluid pressuredifferential acting thereon in consequence of reduction of the supplyfluid pressure in said inlet chamber.